And while my present from G was virtual crockery, my present to G was actual crockery, thanks to a well-timed hint from The Coffee Lady:
This winter we've rediscovered our love of porridge, topping it with demerara sugar, maple sugar, maple syrup, or golden syrup, depending on what's to hand. But flipping through Home Cooking, I see Rachel Allen recommends whisky and cream--woo hoo! Though after a bowlful, I probably best keep away from the crockery...
Purple and green, these socks definitely deviate from my usual beige and gray, but they do coordinate (more so in person than in the photo) with our new Angie Lewin print, By Green Bank:
I fell in love with this print last year but assumed it had since sold out. So I was over the moon to see it at St Jude's in the City at the Bankside Gallery a few weeks ago.
Even better, on the day we visited, Angie was on hand signing copies of her new book, Plants and Places. She was just lovely--so warm and friendly and down-to-earth.
image: Castor + Pollux
And while I wish I'd asked her about her work, or even about where she'd found her beautiful retro blouse, I instead opened with the rather odd 'We've stayed in your house!' Will I ever learn?
Their spikiness is misleading: where they pile up, they create the most wonderfully soft and squashy carpet. And then there are the pine cones, each so delightfully knobbly...
as well as mathematically correct. Remember the Fibonacci sequence?
While packing the real thing would've resulted in a crunchy mess, I'm sure, this pine cone reached England in perfect condition, ready to hang in the living room...
to remind me of my home-away-from-home.
Wool pine cone designed and made by Stephanie Congdon Barnes. Post inspired by Pebbledash.
Now with an allotment, it's very hard not to do this. But a little reminder over the table couldn't hurt:
I find this more difficult, particularly when trying to make a meal out of all those greens:
A mantra to repeat while listening to the news on the clubhouse radio:
And finally, our new clubhouse motto:
This will only make sense if you're familiar with Nice biscuits (cookies). G would say they're not really very nice at all. But as we're being nice, perhaps we should concede they are edible in a biscuit emergency...and they do make for a funny print!
all images: Keep Calm Gallery
Last week he could be found perched on Caroline's ladder. But now the hall has been painted, he's settled on a chest-of-drawers to greet visitors coming through the front door.
He was handmade by Emily Sutton, an artist originally from North Yorkshire, who recently completed her studies at Edinburgh College of Art. Her soft sculptures--whether of birds or people--are all so beautifully detailed, and each has its own unique personality.
Now we really must think of a name for him.
